09/12/2024
I found Sophie on Kijiji. She was a mounted shooting horse who had been diagnosed with navicular, and turned out to pasture. She was being trimmed by a professional farrier who “competed all over the states.” The farm where she lived titre tested her and dewormed her often, as she always seemed to have a heavy load of parasites.
She was not sound in the pasture.
Sophie didn’t have navicular. She just needed her bars trimmed and trim adjusted slightly. In 24 hours of arriving here and being trimmed she had already improved significantly. However, I noticed something about her I had never seen before; she laid down a lot in the first few weeks despite becoming more and more sound everyday.. and her heel/frog area was hot to the touch!!
In about a month we tried her in the mountains. I fitted her with boots which she did not need… I can’t believe how sure footed and comfortable over the gravel she is… and apparently, she drives too!! We called her girl-bandit because of her level headed personality and Tyler fell in love with her.
Her tail was absolutely ratty and rubbed raw when she came. It sounds counter productive but I stopped her deworming protocol despite seeing her rubbed tail. I can’t really say why, other than a hunch. I wanted her to detox.
We had a bodyworker come and check her, as her Trot is sooo comfortable but her canter was rather off balance. Her pelvis got adjusted and the tail rubbing went away. She willingly cantered in the pasture and under saddle after that.
